User:Mct/flammables-cabinet-cleanup

the current state of the flammables cabinet

i am interested in cleaning up the flammables cabinet, not least for my own selfish ends: i like to use the solvents stored in there, and have a hell of a time finding what i want to use and putting it back when i'm done.

i like coming up with and implementing organization schemes, and i especially like throwing away clutter that annoys me. i would be more than happy to do as much of this as i can on my own, but since it appears that no small part of the flammable things are owned by people, it seems like a good idea to get general approval (or, at least, no vehement disapproval) before making any moves on this.

open questions

before the cleanup starts, these should be answered. italicized bullets are my own commentary, and bold bullets are answers.

should we move the cabinet to the loading dock?

• once the cabinet has been emptied, can this be done with just a pallet jack or something?

what criteria should be used to determine ownership?

• anything with a name on it?
• anything with a name on it that isn't obviously dried up / empty?

what criteria should be used to decide disposal?

• anything empty?
• anything nearly empty?
• anything mostly empty, leaking, shitty, or which i otherwise want to throw out?

where do we properly dispose of things which it is has been determined should be thrown out?

• the household chemical & computer recycling facility, on goose island
  • website says they accept "residential waste only". does ps1's stuff count?
  • a 15 minute, 4.5 mile drive from the shop
• the government doesn't let me drive; beg a member to drive a rented home depot pickup?

how should the cabinet be organized?

• containers of different sizes have different shelf height requirements
  • can the cabinet's shelves be adjusted?
    • yes
  • should the determination of which shelf to put a container on be one purely based on size?
    • should there also be thematic shelves?
      • there are currently supposed to be thematic shelves, but that appears to be mostly ignored
• within a shelf, how should the containers be separated
  • by type? e.g. solvent, coating?
  • by use? e.g. wood finish, paint thinner, cleaning solvent?
  • by container appearance?
    • only mostly joking
• should owned, nonpublic containers be separated from unowned, public ones?
  • should owned, nonpublic containers be allowed in the flammables cabinet?
  • how is the cabinet's current population distributed, between owned & unowned containers?
• regardless of organization, the areas (whether they divide the cabinet up by container size, container contents, or both) should be clearly labeled (with something better than the current system of handwriting on painter's tape) and physically separate (movable dividers?)

how should the reorganization proceed?

• does it need to be done in one go?
  • can we stick red-ticket containers somewhere else, e.g. on a table nearby for people to see?
  • stopping midway through would probably make the thing much less likely to be completed, so we should probably strive for one-go
• under what area's purview does the cabinet fall?
  • how much participation do we need from the relevant host?
    • approval, obviously
    • get deputized ticketing privileges for the scope of the project?
• should we first take an inventory, note red-ticketed items, post it to the group, wait a few weeks, and then go through with the actual cleanout / reorganization?
  • would run the risk of the inventory getting out of date, tho probably not severely

tentative plan

how i intend to proceed

inventory

i will begin by conducting an inventory. this will involve first clearing sufficient space on the general area tables near the cabinet to be able to not only set out all of the containers so that they're easily visible but so that we can divide up the containers into groups according to size and contents.

like containers, with like contents, should be grouped together, so we can have a rough idea of how much of the various types of flammables we have. depending on the decision made concerning above open questions about ownership, owned containers should be separated from unowned ones.

note should be made of the varieties and quantities of substances and of the sizes of the various containers. given this information, and depending on the decision made concerning the above open questions about organization, a plan should be drawn up dividing the available cabinet space into areas for storing flammables of the various types.

as empty containers probably don't need to be disposed of in any special manner, they should be thrown out when they are discovered, during the course of the inventory: we should only concern ourselves with containers that actually contain things.

flammables outside the cabinet

there are containers throughout the shop (both on the main floor and in e.g. the cnc or electronics areas) which should probably be stored in the flammables cabinet. during the inventory, these should be made note of, and with consultation with the appropriate area host, a decision should be made as to whether they should be moved into the cabinet. if so, they should be brought into the inventory and treated as contents of the cabinet for the remainder of this process.

unsafe containers

while the inventory is being conducted, any containers which are deemed unsafe (leaking or rusted or otherwise those whose ability to properly contain their contents has been compromised) will be separated from the rest. when sufficient space is cleared in the cabinet, they should be returned there, in a manner that clearly separates them from the good containers. as soon as is possible - preferably as soon as the inventory is finished - these unsafe containers will be disposed of.

ticketing and disposal

once we have an idea of what the flammables cabinet currently contains, we should decide which of these should be kept. the containers should be returned to the cabinet, preferably close to where they will eventually be placed when the space is fully divided up and labeled. an area of the cabinet should be temporarily dedicated to the storage of containers which we plan on throwing out.

owned containers which it is decided we should throw out should be appropriately ticketed and the mailing list should be notified. these containers should be temporarily placed in their own area of the cabinet so they don't disturb the organization of the rest, and so their owners can remove them (or not).

once a sufficient time (per the Tidy Space Policy) has passed and the owned containers have either been removed by their owners, donated to the general pool, or been abandoned, all of the containers which we plan on disposing of should be taken to a disposal facility (per the decision on the above open question on disposal).

organization and maintenance

once the population of flammables is whittled down to only those which we actually plan on storing long term, the cabinet should be cleaned out and dividers should be made to separate whatever areas are decided upon during the inventory stage. these dividers should be durable and movable, so the areas can be adjusted later on as usage patterns change. area labels should likely be integral to the dividers, but probably also should be easily removable - regardless, area labels should above all be easily visible, so it is extremely obvious to someone whether they're putting a container in the right place.

of course, we can't stop people from deliberately misplacing things, and in all likelihood that will be done, but the easier we make it to put things in the correct place, the more likely it will be that people will help keep the cabinet organized.

a schedule of periodic inventory, disposal, and reorganization should be established. at each period, note should be made of the types of flammables we have on hand, the current organizational scheme of the cabinet, and the rough quantities of the contents; these records should be public, and they should be reviewed during later periods, so we have an idea of how usage is changing over time, and whether e.g. it might be a good idea to add a second cabinet (in the wood shop perhaps, specifically for the storage of wood finishes?).

the idea with putting in the initial effort is to make the subsequent work easy - towards that end, we should make sure that we're not letting too much time pass between maintenance periods, less the current mess recreate itself (as is its wont).